DAVID COPPERFIELD

I remember reading the book by Charles Dickens when I was still at school as part of our required reading for English literature. Obviously, as a teenager growing up during the latter part of the twentieth century, I thought it to be a bit boring. Although, to be fair, I think everyone at that age (even today) finds it to be somewhat boring. Fortunately, with age comes wisdom and with wisdom comes a new appreciation of the classics.

The story of David Copperfield is thought by many to be a semi-autobiographical depiction of the author's own life. In short, young David is snatched from his idyllic life with his widowed mother into a life of misery in Victorian England by his evil stepfather after she got remarried for all the wrong reasons. But the lad then slowly claws his way back to a life of respectability with a little bit of help from his eccentric aunt and some friends he makes along the way.

This particular adaptation of the popular book is a BBC production that was first broadcasted in two parts on the 25th and 26th of December 1999. The DVD is therefor on the longish side; almost three hours. But the star studded cast with names like Maggie Smith, Ian McKellan and Bob Hoskins makes it all worthwhile. By the way, this movie was also the film debut for Daniel Radcliffe (of Harry Potter fame) as the young David. He was only 10 at the time.

Again, I can really recommend this DVD for anyone with a liking of the old romantic classics. I rated it at three out of five stars. 

Trailer link (unfortunately no official trailer is available online, only some clips):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP3Xvzw5CtA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKqkSORQals

 Daniel Radcliffe and Maggie Smith